THE SPERM-WHALE. 105 



large cells a limpid and oily fluid, which is liberated by the 

 slightest force. The quantity, chiefly spermaceti, contained in 

 this singular receptacle, is often very considerable, nearly 500 

 gallons having been obtained from the case of one whale. So 

 vast an accumulation of fat has obviously been intended to 

 insure a correct position in swimming, to facilitate the elevation 

 of the spiracle above the surface of the sea, and to counteract 

 the weight of the bony and other ponderous textures of the 

 head ; objects which in the Greenland whale are sufficiently 

 attained by a similar accumulation of fat in the lips and tongue, 

 and by the more elevated situation of the spout-hole. 



While the large whalebone whales generally roam about in 

 solitary couples, the cachalot forms large societies. Schools, 

 consisting of from twenty to fifty individuals, are composed of 

 females attended by their young, and associated with at least one 

 adult male of the largest size, who generally takes a defensive 

 position in the rear when the school is flying from danger. 



Pods are smaller congregations of young or half-grown males, 

 which have been driven from the maternal schools. Two or 

 more schools occasionally coalesce to a " body of whales" so 

 that Bennett * sometimes saw the ocean for several miles around 

 • the ship swarming with sperm leviathans, and strewn with a 

 constant succession of spouts. These large assemblies some- 

 times proceed at a rapid pace in one determinate direction, and 

 are then soon lost sight of ; at other times they bask and sleep 

 upon the surface, spouting leisurely, and exhibiting every indi- 

 cation of being at home, or on their feeding ground. Like 

 most gregarious animals, the cachalots are naturally timid. A 

 shoal of dolphins leaping in their vicinity is sufficient to put a 

 whole school to flight : yet occasionally fighting individuals are 

 met with ; particularly among those morose solitary animals^ 

 that most likely from their intolerable character have been 

 turned out of the society of their kind. The central deserts of 

 ocean, or the neighbourhood of the steepest coasts, are the chief 

 resort of the cachalot ; and so great is the difference of his 

 habitat from that of the smooth-backed whales, that during the 

 whole time Bennett was cruising in quest of cachalots, he in no 

 sino'le instance saw an example of the true whale. The cachalot 



* Narrative of a Whaling Voyage round the Globe. 



